


Until The Bitter End

by TheMerryPanda



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Time Skip, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Pre-Relationship, Slow Romance, Spoilers for Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22950739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMerryPanda/pseuds/TheMerryPanda
Summary: A retelling and extension of the scene after the Battle of the Eagle and Lion at Gronder Field, when Byleth stops Dimitri from going to Enbarr.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & My Unit | Byleth, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	Until The Bitter End

The Kingdom Army found a series of abandoned stables to rest for the night. Voices were hushed. They may have won the battle today, but they lost one of their most important leaders: Lord Rodrigue Fraldarius.

 _It was almost Dimitri_ , Byleth recalled. She watched when Edelgard retreated, when the recently recruited maiden stabbed Dimitri in the back. Before Rodrigue stepped in, Dimitri seemed willing to let her, like he was more than ready to die. Byleth finished off the maiden and carried her corpse away, but felt her heart breaking for Dimitri as yet another loved one passed away in his arms, the memory of her own father’s passing stinging at her heart once more. She was sorry she couldn’t save either of them. At least this new experience showed her that Dimitri still cared deeply about those around him after all.

Byleth wouldn’t let anyone else know this, but he frightened her. He hasn’t been the same since they discovered the Flame Emperor’s identity as Edelgard von Hresvelg, his stepsister and childhood friend, six months – no, five years ago now. The years she was unconscious and disappeared after the Battle of the Mountains at Garreg Mach didn’t help anyone either. She didn’t know it could be so relieving to find Dimitri again after that time, but also so gut-wrenching to see what he had become since: a man without a heart, the humble student and dear friend she once knew practically dead. Dormant, she told herself, that faint glimmer of hope motivating her to keep moving as she stuck by his side since she found him. Others, Lord Rodrigue included, also patiently waited for that Dimitri to return.

Byleth couldn’t sleep, which ended up being for the better. Late in the night, she heard someone get up from a bedroll and leave the stables. Swiftly and silently, she climbed out of her bedroll and scanned over the area. Dimitri was nowhere in sight.

If this was before the incident, Byleth would have just let him be, giving him time to ponder and grieve. Not now. Now he acted rashly, and she wouldn’t put it past him to try to sneak away from everyone to meet his only goal of killing Edelgard.

Her hunch was right. Byleth stole away into the drizzling evening rain, and spotted Dimitri heading south. Usually she would let the prince pray and wander as he pleased, but this time, she could see in his walk that he had a mission in mind he intended to fulfill. She decided then that she was willing to defy the king-to-be and fight and drag him back to Garreg Mach Monastery herself if needs be. She didn’t hesitate to race in front of him and stop him in his tracks.

Dimitri glared at her. “What do you want?” he growled.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Where are you going?”

“It doesn’t concern you.” He attempted to step around her.

Byleth quickly stepped back in front of Dimitri and faced him, craning her neck so she could look up at him. “Yes, it does.”

“Get out of my way. Now.”

“You’re going to Enbarr, aren’t you?”

Dimitri said nothing, which told her everything.

“Do you really think that will appease the dead?”

“Silence!” He raised his voice, but Byleth did not flinch. Although he would frequently snap at her and others this way, she learned that he would not hurt them. He had that shred of humanity remaining in him. There had to be a way to find the rest of him. All she knew she could do for the time being was wait until he was ready to shed the beast he had become.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Death is the end. No matter how much lingering regret a person has, after death, they are powerless. They cannot even wish for revenge, much less seek it out. Hatred. Regret. Those burdens fall on the shoulders of those who are left behind.”

Dimitri stopped to look more closely at Byleth. She said nothing, but instead looked into his eye. Those kind eyes that once mesmerized him seemed only to be filled with concern and pity now, and he despised it.

“And so I must continue down this path!” he continued. “I already told you as much! It is far too late to stop.”

“You’re wrong.” Byleth whispered. Dimitri wouldn’t risk letting her continue.

“Do not waste your breath with some nonsense about how I should move on with my life for their sake. That is merely the logic of the living. It’s meaningless. Those who died with lingering regret… they will not loose their hold on me so easily.”

Dimitri breathed deeply, then turned away and looked up to the clouded heavens. Byleth observed his voice gradually wavering from its usual fury from the past few moons, more so tonight than before, and became cautiously optimistic for him. His soul was like a broken bone that didn’t set properly; the bone needed to be broken again before it could be correctly set and finally heal fully. But first he needed to allow the bone to break once more, which has come to be difficult after five years of disrepair. It was unfortunate that the rebreaking came at the expense of Lord Rodrigue’s life.

“But you seem to have all the answers…” Dimitri muttered. “So tell me, Professor. Byleth. Please, tell me… how do I silence their desperate pleas? How do I… how do I save them? Ever since that day nine years ago… I have lived only to avenge the fallen. Even my time at the Officers Academy was all so that I could secure my revenge and clear away the regret of the dead. It was the only thing that kept me alive… my only reason to keep moving forward…”

Dimitri was on the verge of tears. Byleth now breathed deeply. The prince was finally ready to listen, finally prepared to shed the needless guilt of surviving the Tragedy of Duscur and the sorrow of slaughtering countless people. She chose her next words carefully, reflecting on her time as a mercenary as she selected the advice that best suited Dimitri’s situation.

“You must forgive yourself.”

“Hmph.” He scoffed at first before letting her words sink in. Then then realized: without nine years of the voices of the dead commanding his every move, who was he? Who could he be beyond a beast? “But then who – or what – should I live for?”

“You. Live for what you believe in.”

“What I believe in…” Dimitri repeated. “Rodrigue said the same thing. But is it possible…?” A single tear streamed down his cheek. “I am a murderous monster. My hands are stained red. Could one such as I truly hope for such a life? As the sole survivor of that day, do I… do I have the right to live for myself?”

“Of course you do.” Byleth whispered again. She left it at that, deciding against risking making the argument on why one doesn’t owe their life to the deceased. Dimitri would be better off figuring this out on his own rather than having someone try to explain it to him yet again. He would be more inclined to believe it this way.

The rain began to pour more heavily. Byleth extended a hand to him. “Here. Let’s get out of the rain.”

Dimitri simply stared at her hand for a long moment. Finally, he accepted it. The two walked under the awning of a stall exposed to the outside and sat on a meager pile of hay. They looked over the strangely peaceful grassy Fódlan countryside, the fall of rain being the only sound to pierce the silence.

“Professor…” he finally spoke, “Byleth, what do you live for?”

Byleth opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“I… I don’t know.” She finally replied. It had been too long since she was asked such a deeply personal question, since her father Jeralt was killed. Just before the war, Lady Rhea didn’t hesitate to give her next-in-command over the Church of Seiros, even though Byleth herself was barely acquainted with the religion, and since Rhea was not to be found, the knights of the Church looked to her for direction. She wasn’t given the opportunity to really think about what she wanted.

“Then why did you return to Garreg Mach? Why do you fight with the Kingdom Army?”

Byleth pondered for a long minute. “Because I have nowhere else to go.” She concluded. “My mercenary group disbanded when Father and I accompanied you and the others to the monastery, six years ago. I have no other family. The only hired work I could find now if I wanted to resume mercenary work would be fighting on someone’s side of this war. I might as well fight beside people I know and care about, friends I want to protect.” She laughed softly. “Heh, I guess the Blue Lion House is my new mercenary band.”

She glanced up to meet his eye. For the first time since the incident, she could see the faintest smile tug at the corner of his mouth, but only for a moment. The image warmed Byleth. Was this how Dimitri felt when he first saw her smile, all those years ago?

“Dimitri… please don’t leave tonight. If tomorrow you’ve decided you still want to go to Enbarr, then let me come with you. We can leave everyone else behind if that’s what you want.” Byleth reflected on Dimitri’s words of counsel when she grieved her father’s death. “No matter what happens or what anyone may say, know that I plan to stand by you. Through anything. Until the bitter end.”

He didn’t respond, not at first, anyway. “Thank you. Your words have given me much to think about. For you, I’ll stay.”

Byleth sighed deeply in relief. She reached for Dimitri’s hands, daring to hold them in hers. His hands were large, and cool to the touch. “Thank you.”

Dimitri glanced down to their hands. “Your hands are so warm. Have they always been?” he inquired.

Byleth shrugged. Keeping her hands warm is a subconscious habit she has grown very used to by now.

They simply sat quietly beside each other for some time, watching the rain pour until moonbeams finally parted the sky and eventually returning to their bedrolls when they finally felt tired enough to let sleep take them. Neither got much rest, but they each slept better than they’ve had in weeks.

For her whole life, Byleth slept flat on her back, facing the ceiling. Since that night, however, she would tilt her head to the side. Until the end of the war, she would say it was purely coincidence that her head would tilt towards Dimitri’s direction.

Dimitri was also a back sleeper. Usually his arms would rest close to his sides. Since that night, an arm would extend slightly. It was purely coincidence that it seemed as if he was reaching for his beloved professor and friend.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to tell this story in a way that juxtaposes when Byleth comforts Dimitri after Rodrigue dies with when Dimitri consoled Byleth after Jeralt died. Comments are welcome!


End file.
